Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) are provided with a plurality of logic cells that serve as the basic logic circuits, the logic cells that are caused to operate being selected to match the user's specifications. ASIC include conventional ASIC in which the logic cells are determined in an interconnect patterning step in the fabrication process and programmable logic (reconfigurable logic integrated circuits) in which the logic cells are determined by the user after shipment of the product. Although conventional ASIC has the merit of cheap product unit cost realized by mass production, it suffers from the demerits of high development cost and lengthy development time. On the other hand, although programmable logic has higher product unit price and slower operating speed than conventional ASIC, it enjoys the advantages of low development cost and short development time. Development is currently underway to both improve the operational performance and reduce the size of switching elements for selecting logic cells for programming for the purpose of achieving lower product unit costs, faster operating speed, and lower power consumption of programmable logic.
In programmable logic, a plurality of logic cells is provided, switching elements as described above being connected between each logic cell and signal line. The application of the programmable device disclosed in JP-A-2002-536840 (hereinbelow referred to as Patent Document 1) for these switching elements can be considered.